Help people, from anywhere

Online volunteering

Every task on colift is real work that a local organization actually needs done, and every task produces a free public deliverable that helps someone other than you, translated notices for neighbors who need them, sidewalk-hazard data routed to Public Works, transcribed public records given to a library. None of it is busywork, and none of it is sold.

Each task is timed and reviewed. You log your hours as you go, then submit your work. A sponsoring nonprofit reviews it for quality and credits the hours you actually worked, measured by your active time on the task, capped per task. A reviewer can lower hours for quality, but never credit more time than you truly put in.

• Every task has an outside beneficiary and gives its result away for free.
• Your active time is measured while you work, and credited up to a per-task cap.
• A real person reviews your work and credits your measured hours, never more.

SNAP (EBT) certification

Recent federal changes expanded the work rules that apply to many adults who receive SNAP (EBT), and states are beginning to enforce them. Unpaid volunteer hours count toward that requirement under federal rule 7 CFR §273.24(a)(2)(iii). Volunteering through a sponsoring nonprofit, in person or, with colift, remotely, is one way to meet the hours.

Your state verifies those hours with a volunteer-hours verification form. It has two parts:

• 1Your part, your name, SNAP case number, and the details of the activity, is completed by you, the recipient.
• 2The organization's part is completed by the sponsoring nonprofit, which confirms the hours and signs.

When your hours are approved, colift generates a pre-filled verification form with both parts already drawn from your account and the organization's certification. You download it and upload it to your benefits portal yourself.

Identity & privacy

The state already verified everyone enrolled in SNAP. Our job is not to re-prove who you are, it is to keep your account consistent and capture your case details accurately. Your SNAP case number is the bridge to your identity; we don't need to rebuild it from scratch.

Because of that, verification on colift is light and layered. We add just enough confidence at each step to keep the program trustworthy, without invasive identity checks:

1. 1

   One verified account per person

   At signup you confirm an email and verify a phone number with a one-time code. Each person gets a single account, so logged hours always tie to one identified beneficiary and no one can farm multiple case numbers.

2. 2

   Your form details

   Before your first task you enter the same information your state's verification form asks for, legal name, case number, address, date of birth.

3. 3

   Benefits screenshot

   Before your first certification, a screenshot from your benefits account confirms you have an open SNAP case.

4. 4

   Always-on signals

   Quiet checks in the background, device and location consistency, how fast work is submitted, and AI review for duplicate or low-effort content.

For organizations

Any 501(c)(3) nonprofit, government agency, public school, or food bank can sponsor civic work on colift. There is no state pre-approval list to get onto, if you are one of these organizations, you can host tasks and certify hours for the people you serve.

Every task you post must clear a simple gate: a real beneficiary beyond the volunteer, a genuine need you have, a deliverable given away for free, and work a volunteer would do anyway. Volunteers supplement your mission, they don't displace paid staff.

Sponsors post tasks, review submissions for quality, and credit the hours the volunteer actually worked (you can lower them, never raise them above measured time). When hours are approved, your certification is what makes the verification valid.